Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

2. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on a matter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46223/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) has been operating a number of Loan Schemes for my Department throughout 2022, that require approval of an eligibility code from SBCI for accessing the scheme.

The €800 million Future Growth Loan Scheme closed to new applications in early May 2022, as lending capacity had been reached across all lenders, so it is unlikely that this is the scheme that is being referred to.

There was a requirement to close the Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme at the end of June 2022 as a consequence of the cessation of the EU COVID-19 Temporary State Aid Framework, under which this scheme operated.

In response to this, I launched the Covid-19 Loan Scheme in early July 2022 to ensure that there was a continuation in the availability of lost-cost finance for COVID-19 impacted businesses. Lending under this scheme along with the Brexit Impact Loan Scheme is still available in the market to provide for low-cost lending for SMEs.

At the end of August one of the participating financial providers, namely Bank of Ireland, notified the SBCI that they are no longer accepting new applications to the Covid-19 Loan Scheme and Brexit Impact Loan Scheme, as they have a sufficient pipeline of applications to reach the limit of the lending capacity allocated to them for the schemes.

However, at the present time, all other participating financial providers are open and still accepting applications for lending under the Covid-19 Loan Scheme and Brexit Impact Loan Scheme including AIB, Permanent Tsb and Metamo Credit Unions (Access CU, Cara CU, St. Canice’s CU, St. Francis CU, and Savvi CU).

If the eligibility code that was approved was for either of these schemes, then the business referenced can take their code to any of the aforementioned lenders to indicate eligibility to apply for these schemes.